For various reasons, it is often desired to patrol the geographic perimeter of an area. Examples of perimeter patrol applications are prisons, airports, schools, sea ports, and military installations. Larger-scale applications include patrol of geographic borders.
A common application is for an area where there is a particular need for security and protection against “anomalies”. Examples of perimeter anomalies are objects blocking a perimeter path, fence or wall breaches, or unauthorized persons crossing the perimeter.
Conventional methods for perimeter patrol use human operators of small to mid-sized vehicles. This approach places the human operators in a dull environment, where repetition can lead to complacency and where detection of anomalies requires human perception and attention. Funding is often a limiting factor as to how many vehicles and personnel can be devoted to the patrol system.
A more modern approach is using unmanned ground vehicles to autonomously (without human intervention) perform the patrol tasks. The technology for an automated perimeter patrol system can be expensive, but such a system can significantly improve overall reliability in detecting anomalies.